Cambridge HYatt, MD

 The Maryland Transportation Builders & Materials Association, the Maryland Asphalt Association and the Maryland Ready Mix Concrete Association recently hosted their annual summer conference.  The Maryland Construction & Materials Conference has been an ongoing collaborative effort for the last several decades. 

The 2019 conference was held from June 12th-14th at the beautiful Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Resort.  This year, the MCMC planning committee set forth 3 goals: (1) to continue this conference in a collaborative effort, (2) to provide more vendor activity time and (3) to create a less structured agenda to allow more time to network with fellow industry leaders.

We welcomed over 140 attendees from all different industry backgrounds – consulting firms, suppliers, producers, contractors, etc.  A great part of this conference is that this venue creates a family-friendly atmosphere which is why we encourage our members to bring their partners, spouses and family – there is fun for all to have!

This conference started off with a vendor happy hour / welcome reception where registrants had a chance to pick up their registration material and catch up with familiar faces as others checked in.  That evening we had dinner on the pool deck on the Choptank River.  We had a total of 3 general sessions throughout the conference.  Thursday, we had to chance to listen to Anirban Basu, an economist with personality.  Basu is the Chairman & Chief Executive Officer with Sage Policy Group, Inc. and he spoke on commercial/residential/non-buildings market, highway and bridge market segments, forecast of construction dollars these markets, sustainable Infrastructure, spending, public / private partnership trends, number of people entering the construction industry, and much more. 

The second general session encompassed representatives from our national associations.  We had the pleasure to hear from:

                Rich Juliano, IOM, CAE, General Counsel; Managing Director, Contractors & P3 Divisions
                Jay Hansen, Executive Vice President – Advocacy
                Kevin Walgenbach, Senior Vice President of Compliance & Regulatory Affairs
                Michele Stanley, Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs 

The panelists spoke on transportation funding, safety, re-authorization priorities and appropriations, and how multiple industries are working together to achieve more funding to create more project opportunities for our industry members.  Stanley provided our members with a reminder as to how their voices in Annapolis and D.C. can really make a difference, giving a personal touch as to how certain legislation is affecting their productivity.

Following these sessions, we had an afternoon of activities and beautiful weather accompany us.  Many participated in the golf tournament, on Maryland’s leading Eastern Shore golf course, voted one of the best public golf courses in the state.  In addition, we had registrants also partake in our clay shoot at Pintail Point on the banks of the Why River and a few joined forces to see what they could catch on a chartered fishing trip.

That evening we ended with a reception and dinner which brought out even more of our attendee’s competitive side with lawn games that included corn hole, giant Jenga and ping pong. 

Friday, we welcomed our last general session speaker, Vince Beiser, an award-winning journalist.  Beiser closed out the conference speaking on his book, titled “The World in a Grain”.  Attendees were provided insight on how precious this natural resource is and how hard it is to come by in many developing countries.  Did you know, after water and air, sand is the natural resource that we consume more than any other–even more than oil?

MTBMA, MRMCA and MAA would like to thank those all those who sponsored, participated as vendors and attended this joint conference.  We look forward to hosting again in 2020! 

To keep this conference relative and attractive, please take a moment and fill out the survey if you had a chance to attend this year’s event.  This will help our planning committee to start making any changes we see needed for the next go around!  To get more involved in this committee, please email Laurie Baquol – we would love to have you.